PLEASANT HILL — Pleasant Hill’s turf field was stirring with excitement as it awaited its 2025 graduates. With family members and friends overflowing from the stands onto the field, blown-up cardboard faces in hand and vibrant neon posters inscribed with jersey numbers, the community was eager to see the graduates receive their diplomas.
New principal Chris Reiersgaard shared the enthusiasm with the community. He discussed how this graduate group was particularly special for him, as they are the first full graduating class he’s looked after in his first full year at Pleasant Hill.
The class of 2025 picked a famous quote from Ratatouille as its motto: “If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.” For its class song, the graduates chose *Vienna* by Billy Joel, and for its flower, a peony.
After the graduates received their diplomas, family and friends poured out onto the field, sending a barrage of hugs, kisses, flowers, and affection. After the ceremony, with their high school careers fresh on their minds, the graduates reflected.
Seventeen-year-old Landon Phillip Leroy Kelley, a baseball player, said the main lesson in high school that he learned was hard work and open-mindedness. “The hard work pays off no matter how hard it is,” he said. “And if someone seems like a person you won’t get along with, just go talk to them, because you could actually make a really good friend.”
Kelley said what he’ll miss the most about Pleasant Hill is the community and how everyone is connected. “There are people that you don’t even know that support you,” Kelley said. “They come out and are at all your games. They know who you are even when you don’t know who they are.”
Kelley plans to become a pastor and is going to a ministry college in Albany. He said he’s excited for it because it’s been a passion for him, and he’s prepared a lot for it.
Eighteen-year-old soccer star, Tessa Shannon Hammond, said that the lesson she learned from Pleasant Hill is about “sticking together.” “Find your people, and stick with them,” she said. “They’ll help pick you up when you need it, and you’ll help pick them up, too.”
Hammond said that a teacher who significantly impacted her was Joe Neill, a social studies teacher. “We got a lot done, but also, we had fun and we jumped around,” Hammond said. “It was a really good class, and I had all my friends in one small corner, too.”
Hammond shared that starting a new chapter was scary; she is simultaneously excited and nervous. She will attend Brigham Young University in Utah. After, she plans to go on a church missionary trip.
Seventeen-year-old Katherine Mae Dutton said she’s most looking forward to traveling this summer after graduating. “I’ve never really been out of the state,” said Dutton. “So travelling is gonna be really fun. I’m going to Mexico on our class trip and then I’m gonna take a year at Lane, and then after that, I’m going just wherever it takes me — anywhere in the country.”
